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LYS Podcast Episode 7
''-Intro Music-'' AMANDA MORRISON’S NARRATION/VOICE OVER (AM V/O): As we move through the investigation into these things, Dr. Weylen Taylor, Patient 80, Lane Kelly and his blog and of course, The Leap Year Society itself, we decided that we are going to have to follow the story wherever it leads; no matter where that takes us. Right now, the story is going to lead us to a very interesting place. From a temporary website on the Deep Web, to a field somewhere in the Idaho countryside and the discovery of something strange. You’re listening to The Leap Year Society. I’m Amanda Morrison. Stay with us. ''-End of Intro-'' AM: ''' Ok, so…start at the beginning. '''COLIN ORRY (CO): Well, I was looking for images similar to the graphic of what you’re calling “The Leap Year Society Symbol”. AM: ''' Right. '''CO: And it took some doing. AM: ''' What did you do? '''CO: I posted the image in at least a dozen online forums connected to conspiracy theories, video games, Egyptology, and a few other concerns. AM: ''' And? '''CO: And after a few days I eventually found something. AM: ''' What did you find? '''CO: So I eventually found The Leap Year Symbol on a website that mentioned a familiar group. AM: ''' Who? '''CO: The Bolchester Alliance. AM: ''' They’re the group from the numbers on the poster and the website that sent Mitch that picture! '''CO: Yep! AM: ''' Ok, that can’t be a coincidence. '''CO: There were a number of links on that site and one of those led me to a temporary deep website, something that only pops up periodically. AM: ''' And what did you find on that deep website? '''CO: I found a discussion board. AM: ''' And what were they discussing? '''CO: They were discussing a video. AM: ''' What kind of video? '''CO: Something really strange and cool and probably real. AM: ''' Ok, I’m officially interested. '''CO: What do you know about the Antikythera Mechanism”? AM V/O: What did I know about the Antikythera Mechanism? Not much. Now, however, I know a great deal more. The Antikythera Mechanism is an ancient computer. It was discovered in wreckage in 1902. It’s believed that the shipwreck occurred sometime between 60-70 BCE. It’s believed that this ancient computer had been designed, built and used by the Greeks around 205 to 87 BCE. So, what does an Ancient Greek computer have to do with this podcast? CO: Well, I’m not positive, but the folks discussing the Antikythera mechanism were discussing it in relation to a video some of them claimed to have seen on the darknet. AM: ''' What video? '''CO: Allegedly, the video is proof of the existence of the supernatural. AM: ''' That’s a pretty bold claim, especially in a world of top-line special effects. '''CO: Well, they claim that an artifact that looks a bit like a smaller version of the Antikythera Mechanism was discovered by a geocacher buried in a field in Idaho. AM: ''' So, what’s on the video? '''CO: Well, that’s where a few opinions differ. AM: ''' What do you mean? '''CO: I mean there’s no real consensus. AM: ''' Why do we care, exactly? '''CO: We care because of one of the conversations surrounding a possible description of the video. AM: ''' What description? '''CO: I’ve sent you a screen capture from that forum discussion. AM V/O: I opened the screen capture Colin sent. It was a few entries in what appeared to be some kind of online discussion forum. The first entry reads as follows: “There’s no way it is fake, it’s real. A friend of mine named Kent was there, he witnessed the change. Kent said another one of his friends, Amy, went somewhere else for a second and then came back acting weird. She said that she entered Jason’s mind. Jason was one of her friends. She said it was like she was somebody else, but kind of different.” The second entry: “Who else thinks that the artifact looks kind of like a stone version of the headpiece of The Staff of Ra from Raiders? There’s no way the video is fake. I work at Snopes and used to do work for NASA. DM me, I’ll prove it.” And the final entry: “All three of those kids who found it were forced into mental hospitals. The whole thing has been covered up, but the authorities don’t have it. It’s somewhere else; somewhere safe.” You can see why Colin thought I’d be interested in this video. The fact that one of these kids claimed to have ‘entered her friend’s mind’ was too similar to ignore. And, there was something else. Colin sent me a drawing. Jason, one of the kids who participated in the video, had allegedly drawn a symbol; something he’d seen on one side of the artifact. It was a symbol I believed I’d seen before. AM: ''' I know I saw it somewhere. '''MITCH SORRENSON (MS): It does look familiar. AM: ''' We really need to catalogue all this stuff. '''MS: Ye-really? AM: ''' Yeah. '''MS: Ok, because that would take, like, four years. AM: ''' You’re probably right. '''MS: Are you sure it’s in one of these photos from Dr. Taylor’s lab? AM: ''' No, but that feels like the most obvious place. '''MS: My eyes are getting blurry looking at all of this stuff. AM: ''' Me too. Wait…I think I might know where it was! '''MS: Where? AM: ''' We’re missing the photos we printed out, those pages you read on the podcast earlier. '''MS: They’re in my office, I think. I’ll go look. Mitch leaves to look in her office for a few moments. MS: Here. AM V/O: And there it was: the symbol. The same symbol sketched by one of the kids who was with the geocacher, who’d allegedly discovered a remarkable artifact in Idaho. Mitch and I were looking at the same symbol on a page that had been ripped out of a book; most like a book on Egyptology or similar, but we didn’t have enough information to find the book’s title. It was a symbol related to an ancient group of gods referred to as “The Unknown” in a number of different books and articles collected by Dr. Weylen Taylor. In our last episode, Mitch, following a series of missing clues, ended up meeting some strangers in a church; some strangers who asked her if she was interested in hearing about a secret society. So, what did she hear? What exactly did those strangers in that church share with Mitch? MS: Well, ok. So, first I’ll describe the people. AM: ''' Great. '''MS: There were three people present, or at least there were only three people I could see. There was a man and a woman sitting in the front row, the first pew. AM: ''' And the third person? '''MS: Standing by the altar behind me and to my right. AM: ''' Could you describe these people for the listeners? '''MS: Sure, although there wasn’t really anything that stood out about them physically. The man and the woman in the pew were in their 30’s, well dressed, and the woman behind me near the altar was in her 20’s maybe and dressed a bit more casually but otherwise, nondescript. They really just seemed like normal people, at first. AM: ''' At first? '''MS: Well I mean, once they started talking they were not exactly normal. AM: ''' How do you mean? '''MS: What they were pitching me was definitely outside the lines. AM: ''' What was it that they wanted to discuss? '''MS: They told that they belong to a group of people who were working behind the scenes to improve our world. AM: ''' And did they mention how they were planning on accomplishing that feat? '''MS: They did not. AM: ''' What else did they say? '''MS: They didn’t say much, only that if I was interested in learning more, there was a new membership intake of sorts coming up soon. AM: ''' And you were invited? '''MS: Uh, I was. AM: ''' What is it? '''MS: I’m not sure. I’m supposed to apply online. AM: ''' How? '''MS: By visiting their website. AM: ''' Which is? '''MS: “Findyournewpath.org”. AM V/O: The Bolchester Alliance appeared to be connected to the strange video Colin was looking into. Looking for one secret society appears to have led us to another, or perhaps The Bolchester Alliance was nothing more than what they appeared to be. But, what did they appear to be? There’s really nothing online outside of a website that was only recently set up. The website describes the organization as a group of humanists concerned with “improvement in the face of a changing universe”. Their website states that they’re not only concerned with personal improvement and growth, but also the improvement and growth of all humanity. Pretty lofty ideals. We’ll find out if Mitch ended up signing up for her Bolchester Alliance orientation soon, but right now: we’ve got an update on Patient 80. Phone ringing. AM: ''' Colin? '''CO: Oh hey Amanda! AM: ''' Hey, how are you doing? '''CO: Pretty good, you? AM: ''' Great. So, could you go over what you found? '''CO: Yeah, so I was looking in to Dr. Weylen Taylor’s practise before he ended up at the university. AM: ''' And? '''CO: And it’s pretty murky actually; a residency in Canada, private practice for a while and then he drops off the grid for about six years. AM: ''' What do you mean by “drops off the grid”? '''CO: I mean he just disappears. AM: ''' Kind of like now? '''CO: Kind of, but last time he turned up in rural Japan, way up north in Hokkaido. AM: ''' What was he doing up there? '''CO: No idea, but it was about a year after that experience that he started working and teaching at the university. AM: ''' No idea at all what he was doing in Japan? '''CO: I haven’t been able to find anything yet, but there was something between Japan and the university. AM: ''' What? '''CO: A psychiatric hospital in Northern California. AM: ''' What was Taylor doing there? '''CO: He was treating patients suffering from severe mental trauma. AM V/O: So, Dr. Weylen Taylor left school for a residency in Canada, entered private practise for a while, disappeared and then popped up in Japan before coming back to the United States to work at a psychiatric hospital in Northern California. It feels like way too much of a coincidence that this man disappeared twice. I asked Colin and Mitch to look into possible destinations for Taylor and to research private investigators that specialize in finding people. I thought that would probably be too expensive, but at this point I didn’t want to leave any stone unturned. Speaking of turning over stones, Mitch found some new information about that video. MS: (Reading) “Looking for this thing is probably going to get somebody killed.” AM: ''' Wow that sounds sinister. '''MS: It’s a Facebook post. AM: ''' Yikes. '''MS: I know…and there’s more. AM: ''' Ok. '''MS: A Facebook group discussing what they’re calling “the artifact” was deleted. Facebook denies any such page ever existed, but a few of the kids digging into the video posted screen captures from the page. AM: ''' That’s interesting. '''MS: And there’s something you’re going to love here, I think. It’s a video a teenage boy took of his sister watching the video. You can’t really see anything on the screen itself because, you know, whoever is recording is focused on the girl’s face, on getting her reaction, but you can definitely make out a lot of the audio. AM: ''' How long is the video? '''MS: It’s really not much more than a snippet. AM: ''' Well? '''MS: Well what? AM: ''' Are you going to play it? '''MS: Of course. '-Audio from Reaction Video-' KENT: What the fuck is it? YOUNG WOMAN: It’s that thing she pulled out of the ground. KENT: What’s it doing? YW: Glowing blue. KENT: Shit. Let’s go. YW: Fuck that! KENT: Stay here then. Amy! Jason! UNKNOWN VOICE: You’re not supposed to be here. KENT: What are you talking about? UV: Please…Something isn’t right! We hear a loud banging noise and a woman cries out. '-End of Recording-' AM: ''' Ok, that was creepy. '''MS: Um yeah. AM V/O: The scream came from the young girl whose brother was recording her watching the video. Like Mitch mentioned earlier, we don’t actually see the video itself, we just hear some audio and see the girl’s reaction to whatever she’s seeing on the screen. We’re going to keep looking into that video and all of the strangeness surrounding it, of course, but right now I’m sure you’re wondering why we haven’t gone back to check out Dr. Weylen Taylor’s lab. Well, that’s because it’s taken us a while to get access, not because of any red tape, but rather because the person who needed to sign off on us re-entering the space had been on vacation. In our last episode, you’ll remember that we looked at that exorcism video and compared it to photographs we had taken in Dr. Taylor’s lab. It looked like the same room, except that in that video, where there should have been four bookcases, there were only two. Once again, Yvette led us from the parking lot to Dr. Taylor’s laboratory. ''-''Berkeley University Campus-''' '''YVETTE: How are things going with your podcast? AM: ''' Pretty good…I think. '''Y: You’re enjoying it? MS: Sometimes. Y: Isn’t that always the way? MS: No, I mean it’s been great. It’s just getting complicated. Y: You should talk to Constance in the English Department; she’s all about secret cults. She grew up in one. They reach the lab and you can hear keys jingling. Y: Here we go again. Just holler if you need anything. AM V/O: Yvette opened up the door and left the two of us standing outside of the lab. AM: ''' My hands are shaking. What if there really is a secret room in here? '''MS: I know; it’s crazy. Looks the same. AM: ''' Yeah. '''MS: You ready? AM: ''' Um, I’m not sure. '''MS: How heavy do you think these bookcases are? AM: ''' I don’t know! You don’t think there’s a secret switch or something? '''MS: I don’t believe it’s that high-tech in here. AM: ''' You’re probably right. '''MS: Hey, look at this! AM: ''' Wow. '''AM V/O: Mitch pointed to one section on one of the bookcases. It was worn at precisely the spot somebody might grab it with their hand to move it to pull it into the room to open up a secret area. Sounds of moving a heavy object. MS: Holy! Woah! AM: ''' Yeah! This is going to take a while. '''AM V/O: We pulled back the bookcase to reveal exactly what we suspected we would find hidden behind it. It was indeed a secret room. There were two chairs, an enormous metal Steampunk-looking tanker desk, and a tall, narrow, old, wooden filing cabinet against the far wall. There was a long, wide wood-framed chalkboard and a bunch of old recording equipment. It was pretty much exactly what we were hoping it might be. We did the same thing as before: turned up the lights, got our phones and took photographs of absolutely everything we could. AM: ''' There’s so much…stuff. '''MS: Yeah. What is this thing? AM: ''' It looks like some sort of EKG machine or something? '''MS: Weird. AM: ''' How do you want to handle the filing cabinet? '''MS: Well, let’s see. There’s some more equipment, but there’s really only one drawer of actual files. AM: ''' Let’s try and take pictures of everything. '''MS: Copy that. AM: ''' Is there anything on Patient 80? '''MS: You bet there is. AM: ''' What is it? '''MS: A file. AM: ''' Let’s take a look. '''AM V/O: And take a look we did. There were a number of interview transcripts and additional notes on Dr. Taylor’s treatment process, but there was no information on the identity of Patient 80. We were about to leave, when I saw something familiar. MS: Hey, what is it. AM: ''' This release slip. '''MS: What about it? AM: ''' I recognize the name of the psychiatric facility. '''MS: Ok, what about it? AM: ''' It’s the place Dr. Taylor worked when he came back from Japan, before he came here to the university. '''MS: Ok, what do you think it means? AM: ''' I’m not sure, but it looks like Patient 80 was registered in that hospital under registration number “21 14 11 14 15 23 14”. '''MS: Does that help us? AM: ''' That hospital shut down last year, but it hasn’t been emptied. I think they’re using it as part of a film set these days. '''MS: Still not sure how we’re going to get access to a private hospital’s patient records. AM: ''' We’re not actually looking for patient records, just one patient’s name. '''MS: And how are we going to find that information? AM: ' We’re going to phone a friend. ''The sound of Amanda dialing a phone number. '-Phone Call with Amanda’s Friend-' '''DISGUISED VOICE (DV): ''(Distorted) Hello? '''AM: ' Hi, is now a good time? DV: (Distorted) ''It’s perfect. '''AM V/O': As you can tell, we’re using a filter to disguise our interview subject’s voice. We’re doing this because they’ve asked us not to reveal their identity on this podcast. I have a good friend who works on locations in film and television. They also work as a creative advisor of sorts on this show. We send earlier mixes of each episode to them for notes. When they heard this episode, they did something we didn’t ask them to do: they found that patient number listed on the facility’s manifest. Every other number on that manifest referenced the name of the patient, except for one: our number. So, we still didn’t have a name, but we did have something. My friend was able to get two names connected to the patient we believe is, or was, Patient 80. The patient had two visitors during their time at that facility. We have their names and we were able to get in touch with one of them. MICHAEL SAIL (MSa): Of course I know the patient’s name. I’m the person who checked him into the hospital. AM V/O: You’ve been listening to the Leap Year Society. I’m Amanda Morrison. Thank you for listening. (Rest of outro) END --- NOTES * Patient 80’s registration number at the hospital 21 14 11 14 15 23 14 spells “U N K N O W N” when you convert to letters.